Cursed by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Dying sucks–and high school senior Ember McWilliams knows firsthand. After a fatal car accident, her gifted little sister brought her back. Now anything Ember touches dies. And that, well, really blows.Ember operates on a no-touch policy with all living things–including boys. When Hayden Cromwell shows up, quoting Oscar Wilde and claiming her curse is a gift, she thinks he’s a crazed cutie. But when he tells her he can help control it, she’s more than interested. There’s just one catch: Ember has to trust Hayden’s adopted father, a man she’s sure has sinister reasons for collecting children whose abilities even weird her out. However, she’s willing to do anything to hold her sister’s hand again. And hell, she’d also like to be able to kiss Hayden. Who wouldn’t?

But when Ember learns the accident that turned her into a freak may not’ve been an accident at all, she’s not sure who to trust. Someone wanted her dead, and the closer she gets to the truth, the closer she is to losing not only her heart, but her life. For real this time.

My Review

I feel like I have waited for this book FOREVER!!!! I had read Half-Blood by JLA when I noticed this book. I had asked for a review copy right away. When it finally came in the mail…I feel like I devoured it!!

Ember has avoided touching anything alive since the car crash that killed her father, left her mother in a depressive state and actually had taken her life too. Her little sister was able to bring her back with her healing powers, but now, Ember kills anything she touches!

The beginning of the book had me in stitches. I loved how Olivia would bring dead creatures back to life! The book starts off with Ember waking up from a deep sleep to find a gerbil standing on her chest staring into her eyes. She screams and realizes that the gerbil is in fact Olivia’s gerbil that had died and they had buried. Ember has to keep trying to explain to Olivia that she cannot just keep bringing things back from the dead…it’s unnatural.

Ember is a great character that I truly admire her strength. She has been caring for her sister and her mother for 2 long years. She never complains and just keeps on going. It is more difficult for her due to not being able to touch anyone and she craves that contact.

When Hayden is brought into the story, he is dark and mysterious. It does not take long to see the sweet side of him and how he tries to help and save everyone around him.

I liked the character development and the different character traits and personalities. Jennifer has a knack for creating the most unusual characters and then building off of them to tell one great and absorbing story.

I believe that right now, this is a standalone book, but, JLA has the ability to build off of it to create a great series!

I must tell you that Ms. Armentrout has quickly become my favorite author and now that she is diving into the adult world under the pen name J. Lynn, I am even more excited. I love every book that she has written so far and believe that she can only get better!